POSITIVELY MEDIEVAL

DOOM: THE DARK AGES is going back in time

- Ted Litchfield

It's easy to take the revival of fast-moving, exploration-heavy 'boomer shooters' for granted in 2025, but nine years ago, Doom 2016 hit the industry like a bolt from the blue, with nary an iron sight or cover system to speak of. The entire genre leapt to crib off id's notes.

These days, id Software is far from the old man on the ropes trying to prove there's an audience for this sort of game that it was in the early 2010s. A 2020 sequel, Doom Eternal, showed that id's second wind wasn't some fleeting thing, that the long John-less (that is, Romero and Carmack) FPS trailblazer has what it takes to go the distance.

Alongside neo-Doom, there's been an explosion of indie 'boomer shooters' imitating '90s sensibilities and aesthetics, and with the notable exceptions of Call of Duty and Escape from Tarkov, movement and bombast have replaced gritty realism as the go-to style even in big budget shooters. Doom is once again the king everyone else is coming after, and we've wondered where id would take things next.

MEDIEVAL-THEMED

Rather than trying to continue the story of Eternal's Ancient Gods DLC, the studio decided to go back in time for its next entry. Doom: The Dark Ages is a medieval-themed prequel that draws on the mythology of angels, demons, and heroic champions that id developed in its reboot series. Doom 2016 begins with the Slayer locked in an ancient sarcophagus, waiting to be reawoken to fight the forces of hell, and the series has alluded to his allegiance to an ancient band of legendary warriors brought low with his imprisonment.